In terms of Centers, there are few Professional Football players who can say that they are as successful as Bart Oates.

After going undrafted out of BYU in 1983, Oates joined the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL and won championships with them in 1984 and 1985.  When the USFL folded, he signed with the New York Giants, where he would become their starting Center, and was named an All-Rookie.  The following season would see Oates win another title, this time a Super Bowl Ring when the Giants won Super Bowl XXI.  In 1990, Oates and the Giants won another Super Bowl (XXV), but for the first time, he made the Pro Bowl.

This began his most successful individual run, as he earned that honor in 1991 and 1993.  He would sign with the San Francisco 49ers for 1994, where he played two seasons and went to his fourth and fifth Pro Bowls.  He would win another title when he assisted the Niners in their win in Super Bowl XXIX.

Five pro rings are pretty damned good, don’t you think?

Drafted 3^rd Overall in 1984 from Michigan State, the New York Giants would have a longtime fixture in their Linebacking corps in Carl Banks.  Banks was an All-Rookie Selection, and he later earned Pro Bowl honors and First Team All-Pro honors in 1987, the year after he played a major role in their Super Bowl XXI win.  Banks would again hoist the Lombardi Trophy high four years later in Super Bowl XXV.

Banks may have been only chosen for one Pro Bowl, but he was easily in contention for many others.  A master at closing in on Tight Ends and eliminating them from plays, he was named to the 1980s All-Decade Second Team.  Banks finished his career with Washington and later the Cleveland Browns.

One of the longest-tenured players in NFL history (22 seasons), his NFL career began after going undrafted in 1983 and playing all three seasons of the USFL.  Landeta was selected for the All-USFL Team, and he joined the New York Giants in 1985, where he won two Super Bowls and earned two Pro Bowl selections and three First Team All-Pro selections.  After the Giants, he played for the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, and Philadelphia Eagles, and is one of the few players named to two All-Decade Teams (80s & 90s).

Ottis Anderson had one of the best rookie seasons ever for a Running Back, gaining over 1,600 yards on the ground.  Too bad he did it for a bad St. Louis Cardinals team that was barely on the National radar.

Anderson would prove he was not a one-season wonder.  Although he never again matched those rookie numbers, he still posted decent numbers and was the highlight of a poor Cardinals team.  As it does in football, injuries piled up, and he lost his explosiveness.  Anderson was, however, reinvented as a short-yardage specialist by the New York Giants, and he again accumulated impressive tallies.  He was a natural leader, and as he rarely fumbled, he was a strong key to the Giants’ ability to control the ball for extended periods of time.  As a Giant, Ottis Anderson twice won the Super Bowl, capped with an MVP performance in Super Bowl XXV.

Although Anderson gained major exposure with the Giants, few remember that he retired in the top ten all-time in Rushing Yards.  He has since fallen down that list, but he had a long, fruitful career few could match.

Phil Simms is a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, though many who watched his first five years of play may not have foreseen it.

Simms may have been inconsistent early in his NFL career, but something seemed to click in 1984.  It wasn’t just the influx of talent to the Giants roster, as it was at this time that Simms became their leader and found ways to win.  He wasn’t the quickest or the hardest thrower, but he became a winner, and most importantly, he had the belief and trust of his teammates; something that not every Quarterback had.  Because of the Giants’ stellar defense, many have said Simms only had to manage the game, but those who played with him always praised his high football IQ and leadership skills.

Simms has been called overrated and underrated at various times in his career.  Regardless of how he is rated, anyone with a Super Bowl Ring as a quarterback and who was at times considered in the top five has to be considered a candidate for the Football Hall of Fame.